Perry TT/Circuit

I raced the M35+ time trial and circuit in Perry on Saturday.  I didn't expect much, and not much is pretty much what I found.  But I had a great time just being at a race again and watching some teammates pin it on.  Chad, Trey C., John, Eddie, and Jake had solid races.  And I was thrilled to see my wife, Betty Jean, win the W3/4 time trial.

My TT felt odd more than painful - a bad sign.  Usually I have segments of a TT where I can really feel myself getting on top of the gear and in the groove, but I never settled into that rythem on Saturday.  And the old familiar pain wasn't there.  But I think it'll be back soon enough.

I had no clue what to expect in my circuit race.  I actually felt pretty good for the first couple of laps in the field of 20 or so, at which point I convinced myself that my original goal of just sitting in, gathering a few race miles, and finishing anywhere in the group was not really a satisfactory goal.  So when a group of 4 or 5 riders got off the front in lap 3, I made my brilliant move: I decided to bridge.  Call it mission creep.  The first 20 seconds of my semi-sprint-bridge attempt actually wasn't so bad.  But when John Atkins and the group behind me decided to counter-surge (which was simple considering I never broke their elastic and probably didn't stretch it much) my legs were nowhere to be found.  I was immediately gapped.  I gave it one more hard push to catch the wheel of Davies, who was holding on to the chase group for dear life.  I got there about the time we turned into the wind.  I fought for a few more minutes 'till I lost Chad's wheel and saw it was hopeless -- then I turned off the course to get a steady hour of tempo on back roads.

Chad actually fought back solo to the main chase group and finished 2nd in M45+.  Just goes to show that you can sometimes grind your way back from what appears to be a hopeless situation if you stay on the gas.

I'll give it another try in Union City.
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21st Century Reassessment

"Reassessment": a new appraisal or evaluation.

I have never had a month like my last one.  I won't belabor the description - suffice to say I had the flu and other muscular complications.  As a result, Sunday will be 30 days since I have mounted my road bike.  That hasn't happened to me since the 20th century.  I raced Tundra on Feb 19th and I have managed a few spin classes here and there, but I'm definately in uncharted territory.

I'm very dissapointed with how my 2011 has begun.  But in a strange sort of way, I'm now provided with a refreshingly blank slate beginning tomorrow in Perry.  I'm looking forward to seeing Betty Jean enjoy her new TT rig; and I'm going to throw my leg over the Cervelo and have a good time.  Then in the afternoon I'll jump into my first mass start race in a long while and try to hang on.  I have nothing to loose, so I'm going to give it all I've got.  It'll make for an interesting spring.
R
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